Shadows
by Celeste Crilay
Summary: A short story of a nightmare.


My parents stepped out of the car.

"We'll be back in a few minutes," my mother said. "Do not unlock the doors for anyone, except if it is us." She closed her door with a slight _thud_, my father doing the same, and they walked to the shack of a restaurant that I would never venture in if I had a choice.

It looked as if danger was crawling around it. There were shadows cast from the teens huddled around a fire burning in a barrel. The shapes of the shadows formed dancing figures of demons venturing out of Hell to come torture us. Smoke from the fire combined with smoke from the cigarettes the teens held between their teeth drifted into the air, creating shapes that would frighten even the toughest of goodie-two-shoes.

"Sissy?" a voice asked. I turned to see a child who looked similar to me, yet I did not know the child. "Sissy?" she repeated with a confused look on her face.

"Yes?" I replied. _Who is she? Why is she here? Why is she calling me 'Sissy'?_ Thoughts spun through my head as she asked her question. I didn't hear what it was, so I told her I didn't know and looked out the window, studying the teenagers loitering by the ratty place.

"Sissy, Kaitlyn asked you a question. Why'd you say you don't know?" my sister, Sara, asked. She looked at me, her bright blue eyes glittering in the light the fire cast.

"Because I didn't-" As I glanced at my little sister, Sara, and began my excuse, a figure standing outside the car, only a few yards away from us, caught my eye. He didn't seem to belong with the teens on the opposite side of the car, yet he stood there in a place he didn't belong. His form stood there, near statue still, but obviously not a statue, for he quivered and breathed as he stood outside the car. The man slowly began to wobble toward the car we sat in. My eyes widened in terror as I realized something, two somethings actually, about the man. First of all, he was holding a handgun in his right hand, finger on the trigger, and a knife with a curved, frighteningly sharp, glistening blade in his left. Secondly?

_I could see completely through his body._

As his translucent form approached the vehicle, I quivered in my seat. Neither my younger sister nor the other girl whom I didn't know seemed to notice the man. He made his way to the car, limping, holding those terrifying weapons, looking to kill us.

"Don't either of you see that?" I exclaimed, pointing out the window. They both turned their heads and didn't seem to notice anything different from the outside world that had been there before it had arrived.

"See what?" Sara asked. She was confused as she turned back to look at me, but something seemed different about her. That's when it hit me. Her once dazzling blue eyes had turned black, a bottomless, endless black that was not natural. She suddenly smiled. A Cheshire cat type smile, her teeth turning from crooked, normal teeth to pointed shark teeth.

I scooted away from the being who was once my sister but no longer was. She looked at the other child in the vehicle and her smile got wider.

"Look, Sissy, a meal for me." Her voice was not the sweet, innocent one she had used to speak to me only a few seconds earlier. It was a demonic, evil voice that a young girl should never have. It frightened me more than the man outside did. I glanced up as I thought of the man and saw him closer to the car than I had thought he'd be in the short amount of time I took my gaze away from him.

Sara, at least the body of the one I knew as Sara, pounced for the child that sat between the two of us. Her hand stuck out, claws in the place of the bright, purple nails, and wrapped itself around the tiny throat of the child. The little girl struggled as I watched, horrified of what was happening. She slapped at Sara, gradually getting slower as her oxygen supply began to finally disappear. My body was frozen in fear of what would happen if I intervened.

As my body finally came back to its senses and began to move, the window beside Sara shattered, sending shards everywhere. What shattered the window was the knife the see-through man had been carrying. Moving my arm, I saw that the knife had pierced Sara and the child she had choked. Blood flowed from the gaping wound in Sara's chest, staining the backseat of the car. Her eyes widened and the black began to fade to gray as she closed her eyes. I had seen my sister die before my very eyes and hadn't been able to do anything to stop it.

The man spoke in a raspy, dull voice. "This demon could have killed you, Your Majesty. Why did you do nothing to stop it? Have your powers truly disappeared?"

As he spoke, I could faintly hear the teenagers behind me shout to one another.

"Do it!"

"Set it ablaze!"

"This is the only way you can become one of us."  
>These words frightened me, but I paid them no attention. I was focused solely on the man staring at me through the shattered window. As I gaped at him, I began to feel a heat close to my back and saw the light from the barrel on fire behind me grow brighter. I took a chance and turned just enough to where I would be able to keep an eye on the man and see what was happening behind me at the same time.<p>

"M'lady!" the man shouted in alarm. I saw why he was alarmed. The side of the car I was on was being set on fire by a young teen. "M'lady, take my hand! I'll save you."

"How can I possibly trust you? You just killed my sisters!" _Wait_, I thought. _Why did I just say 'sisters'? Sara is my only sister._ I was puzzled by my own words.

The car began to get hotter, and the plastic began to melt. I was scared by both the fire and the man claiming to be able to help me. I couldn't do anything and stay safe, so I took the best route possible. I took the man's outstretched hand. He pulled me, showing strength one wouldn't think he had because of his being translucent. The man held me tight and ran from the car as it blew to pieces because the fire had spread to the gas tank.

"Your Majesty, are you harmed? Have you been hurt?" he asked, seemingly concerned. I glanced down, seeing he still held both his gun and knife. A thought appeared in my mind, one that would lead me to a safe escape. I reached down, grabbing the knife and cutting the hand that held the gun. The knife went straight through the arm, but the man dropped the gun anyways.

I reached down and grabbed the gun, holding it pointed at his heart as I steadied it. The knife hung in my hand, seemingly useless, but a knowledge of how to use it had awakened. I held the weapons in defense as the man sighed.

"I tried to help you, Queen, but you leave me no choice." His mouth widened and he lost the humanoid form he had held the entire time up until now. His form became a shadow-like, frightening one. He had no legs, only a tail. He floated a foot or two above the ground. He grew two antenna from his head. The man became a monster. "I'll have to destroy you now."

Confusion overtook me as I held my defense position. "Why do you keep calling me 'Your Majesty' and 'Milady' and 'Queen' if you want to kill me?" I shouted, my voice breaking as I tried to keep a tough exterior. Our gazes locked as I stood there, waiting for an explanation.

"Why? Oh because, Queen, I may be your subject, but I am part of the Protestors Of the Nation. PON is tired of you ruling our country and not being a man! We need a strong man to protect us from the Humans and the other nations in our world!" His eyes grew a darker shade of blue, a terrifying shade, as he smiled. "And _you _are not a man."

He began to come closer to my shaking body. Slowly, as if trying to torture me further, he crept nearer and nearer. He then found an opening, one I didn't realize was there, and attacked.


End file.
